Act 1 Scene 2: Page 37-38 Gloucester Speech Transcription

“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.” These late recievings give warning of the inevitable eclipse’s darkness when something terrible shall occur.

“Though the wisdom of nature can reason it thus and thus, yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects.” Our reasonings with the world will only make things worse.

“Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide. In cities, mutinies, in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father.” Love and friendship between families and friends eventually fade and divisions shall form through betrayal, rebellion and disagreements.

“This villian of mine comes under the prediction; there’s son against father; the king falls from bias of nature; there’s father against child.” Edgar’s plotting are included as part of this omen of the eclipse. Both Lear and Gloucester choose one son/daughter over the other, abandoning and turning against the child.

“We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves.” Loyalty and love is in the past. This scheming, lies and betrayal and all other hateful actions will continue to follow, the result being death.

“Find out this villian, Edmund; it shall lose thee nothing; do it carefully. And the noble and true hearted Kent banished! His offence, honesty! ‘Tis strange.” Carefully and with nothing to lose, uncover the truth behind this betrayer, Edgar. Ironic, Kent is banished for honesty whereas Edmund is rewarded for deceit.

Act 1: central plot vs subplot

	King Lear	Gloucester
Inciting incident	Lear dividing his Kingdom	Gloucester mistreating or unfavouring Edmund due to his bastardness
Possible Hamartia	Selfishness, pride, ignorance and blindness	Gullibleness, ignorance and blindness
Symbolic references	Eyes = ability to see/ wariness of the truth Creatures/beasts (dragon) Nature	Eyes and Nature

Dramatic Irony:

1: Scan act 2, scene 4 and write down the animals Lear uses to describe his daughters. Explain the imagery that is emerging.

Lear states that “O Regan, she hath tied. Sharp-toothed unkindness, like a vulture, here!”. This remark is followed by Regan stating that “you less know how to value her desert”. This simile describes Regan as a ruthless flesh tearing predator who has control over the land. She has no sympathy for Lear’s heart and doesn’t bat an eyelid over Lear’s plummet to powerlessness. It is an allusion to an eternal greek punishment in mythology in which Prometheus is chained to a rock and a vulture tears out his liver and eats it, only for the heart to regrow in the night and for the tearing to continue the next day. This relates to how Lear is helpless and has no power and must endure the pain and tearing away of power at the hands of his daughters.

Another instance is when Lear exclaims “looked black upon me; struck me with her tongue, most serpent like, upon the very heart.” The comparison of Goneril to a snake is indicative of how she uses her vicious words as a weapon to strike Lear’s heart. the imagery of brutality and violence between predator and prey builds up this difference in power between Lear and his daughters and how weak and helpless he has become since the first scene of act one.

2. Lear’s speech becomes more broken and less sophisticated in this act. What is this a reflection of? Explain your answer.

Lear’s speech becoming more broken is indicative of him becoming madder and therefore losing any sense of his words. He becomes increasingly more careless of how sophisticated and proper his speaking is because he is slowly realising that he is no longer entitled to talk like a king would. Lear is transitioning from his status of being king to a commoner (according to the great chain of being), who are less educated and do not need to impress others as much as royalty does.

3. Lear says in line 22 of scene 4, “they dust not do’t, they could not, would not do it. T’is worse than murder to do upon respect such violent outrage.” Why does Lear consider this a worse crime than murder? Hint: Think about the Elizabethan world view.

By putting Kent in stocks, Cornwall and Regan have disrespected Lear, as Kent is under Lear’s service and only Lear can order for such punishments to occur to Kent. Since the Elizabethan world wasn’t too appalled by murder due to it being relatively common and they heavily enforced the concept of ‘the divine right of king’ which placed the king as having the right to be respected and have an authority of all. Lear’s daughter and son in law have ignored his rights and have dismissed the importance of the King having the entitlement to respect, which is worse than murder back in those times.
Someone viewing Shakespeare’s play back then would find it very shocking to see such an act play out before them due to their ingrained beliefs. This fear and horror due to this scenario playing out similar to how it would in reality

4. Sight and eyes appear in this scene again. What idea is being developed by this imagery?

In the passage, “you nimble lightnings, dart your blinding flames into her scornful eyes! Infect her beauty, your fen sucked dogs, drawn by the powerful sun to fall and blister!”, Lear wishes for Goneril to receive karma for her mistreatment towards him. He exclaims to Regan his wishes for the gods to blind her, making her oblivious to the truth (eye symbolizes the ability to see the truth) or gullible and ignorant (develop Lear’s hamartia) just like him during act 1. Without sight, she would fall for the lies and deceits of others and therefore face the consequent pains and sufferings that Lear wishes to inflict upon her. The imagery of burns, blisters and flames indicate that Lear is overcome with compulsive anger towards Goneril, giving an insight into just how bitter and vengeful Lear feels at this point in the novel. After this outpouring of anger lear must contain himself and not speak ill or curse towards Regan, as she has the power to reduce his status (reduce his train and knights). Lear states “her eyes are fierce, but they do comfort and not burn”, because he is trying to gain acceptance, mercy and comfort from Regan’s approval to stay with her. He knows she can be vicious and has yet to feel anger towards her and that is comforting for the timebeing.

5. The storm brews outside the castle as Lear and his daughters argue. What is this a possible symbol of? Why do you think Lear decides to face the storm rather than obey his daughters and stay in the safety of the castle?

The storm represents the internal turmoil of Lear, as he is both suffering from misery (hence the pouring of water) and is furious and overcome with anger, madness and vengeance (hence the thunder and lightning). However, rather than hiding from this sudden heightening of negative emotions due to his family reducing him to a lesser being, Lear decides to embrace his growing madness and indignation and defy his daughter’s orders. Rather than cowering within the castle, weeping and displaying weakness or flaw he decides he will display strength and gain ‘knowledge from suffering’. Lear states “no, I’ll not weep, I have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I’ll weep. O fool, I shall go mad!”. Lear has reason to cry and pity himself and be submissive and inferior to those who have wronged him but he decides to take the path of madness, one that is much more dangerous and unpredictable and his proclamation displays that he is excited by this.

“A poor, infirm, weak and despised old man”- Lear showing pity for himself and displays a change in his perception of himself contrasting to the pride and arrogance displayed during the beginning of the novel (“come not between the dragon and his wrath.”

“No, I will be the pattern of patience; I will say nothing”- Lear will become a better version of himself, one more tolerant and caring. He will be like Cordelia and say nothing, causing more harm to occur as we know from the beginning. If Lear doesn’t reach out and talk to his daughters, his unfavourable situation will remain the same.

“Since I was a man such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, such groans and roaring wind and rain, I never remember to have heard.” – Kent has never experienced a storm so chaotic as this. This world, as he knows it, is in chaos. Kent has also never seen Lear in such a wild untamed state.

 

“My wits begin to turn.” – Lear is commenting on his mental state that he is falling into madness.

Act 3

1.Provide an explanation of the difference between verse and prose. Identify how they are being used in the play at the moment.

A verse is a passage of speech within a play that is arranged in metrical rhythm (iambic pentameter). They can be identified by there being a capital letter at the beginning of each line. Eg.

Prose, on the other hand, has no metrical rhythm and is merely lines of dialogue. They can be identified by there only being a capital letter at the beginning of each sentence as opposed to line.

Whether a character is using one of the two indicates their class or level of education or their state of madness. Lear begins to lose this iambic pentameter and begins to go from speaking in verse to prose, indicating his descent into madness.

Verse: “Meantime we shall express our darker purpose. Give me the map there. Know that we have divided In three our kingdom, and ’tis our fast intent To shake all cares and business from our age,” – Lear is still sane and speaks in verse, each line beginning with a capital letter.

Prose: “Then let them anatomize Regan. See what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hearts?” – Lear is at the height of his peripetia and is completely mad, speaking in prose, only each sentence beginning with a capital letter.

2. Explain the significance of the storm. Find two quotations that support your response. Hint: Look towards the beginning of the act.

“Contending with the fretful element; Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea, Or swell the curled water ‘bove the main… Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage…”

The gentleman is commenting on Lear’s struggles to fend against his increasing madness. Lear battles with trying to remain above the water and not completely give in to the loss of his sanity and be torn apart in the process. The storm symbolises this inner conflict within Lear and indicates the powerful influence that insanity can have over the human frame. This battle is violent, as indicated with the negative connotative words to show just how carelessly destructive Lear’s madness can be towards his psyche.

The storm also indicates the chaotic state of the world due to how disorderly the structure of society has become (Great Chain of Being is broken), the chaotic weather having the ability to drown the earth within the violent waves if the order of the world isn’t restored.

“Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! Spout, rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire are my daughters.”

This storm, representing Lear’s madness, can punish him with all its might, but he owes nothing to it and is unafraid of death. Despite how severe the tempest gets, it cannot match the devastating destruction that Lear’s daughters have brought upon Lear (tearing away all of his power and shutting him outside with nothing). Lear would rather suffer from madness than suscept to slaving for his daughters.

3. Explain the situation that Gloucester finds himself in during this Act? What horrible thing happens to him and what is ironic about the situation? Find two quotations that deliver this event to the reader.

Gloucester is torn between trying to help or stay loyal to Lear by aiding in his escaping to Dover (where the French and Cordelia and her husband reside whilst in process of invading England), and obeying Lear’s daughter’s wishes for Lear to be left alone to be hunted down. By going back and forth between the two opposing sides, he is caught by Oswald and Edmund and is then imprisoned for treason and brought to Cornwall.

At this point, the horrible incident occurs to Gloucester, in which both of his eyes are gouged out by Cornwall. This is ironic, as he is just beginning to “see” the truth surrounding the daughter’s true intentions and malicious ways to overthrow Lear from his powerful position. He also realises that it was Edmund who was plotting agianst him all along and not Edgar.

” Upon these eyes of thine, I’ll set my foot.” Cornwall stomps eyes.

“One side will mock another. The other too!” Regan urging for the other eye to be gouged out as well, or it will make the eyeless socket look worse.

“Lest it see more, prevent it. Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?” Cornwall plucks out the jelly like remaining eye to prevent Gloucester from realising any more truth.

4. Lear makes some interesting statements about the weather and its connection to his mental state:

“Thou think’st ‘tis much that this contentious storm invades us to the skin…” This madness will overtake everything that Lear once was, his sanity, status and appearance, just like the storm soaks his clothes to the skin.

“…this tempest in my mind doth from my senses take all feeling…” A tempest is a particularly violent storm, this storm occurring outside resembling the madness within Lear’s mind. However, this stirring of Lear’s brain means that he cannot think rationally and therefore is numb to feeling heartbroken over the ingratitude of his daughters.

• What is a tempest? How does this provide a direct connection between Lear’s mental state and the raging storm outside.

5. Lear is at the lowest of his fortune in this Act. He is experiencing the full effects of peripetia. He makes a reference to animals as he tears his clothes off in Act 3 Scene 4. Find it and explain how Shakespeare is using a mixture of imagery and the knowledge of the Great Chain of Being to show Lear at the height of his downfall.

“Thou owest the worm no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, Unaccomodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings! Come, unbutton here.”

Lear tears his garments because he believes that, in accordance with the Great Chain of Being, he is lesser than commoner status and is merely a bare animal because he is homeless. This animal reference indicates that he has plummeted to such a low status that he considers himself as inhumane, a poor, bare animal because two legged beasts wear no clothes.

6. What scene does Shakespeare use to play on our feelings that there is no justice left in the world of King Lear. Explain your answer.

The only method of obtaining justice for the ingratitude and merciless mistreatment from Lear’s daughters is to have a fake trial in a dusty old farmhouse, wherein the guilty are four-legged stools hallucinated as the vile criminals they are in Lear’s mind. The fact that this mock trial is the only way of Lear obtaining justice indicates that there will never be any justice for such horrific crimes against someone with great power as the king, this concept being inaccurate in the Elizabethan world therefore shocking audience members attending the play.

“Arraign her first. ‘Tis Goneril. I here take my oath before this honorable assembly, she kicked the poor King her father.”